Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Bleach

Bleach ({not transcribed}) , transitive verb

[Old English blakien, blechen, transitive verb & v. i., Anglo-Saxon blācian, blacan, to grow pale; akin to Icelandic bleikja, Swedish bleka, Danish blege, Dutch bleeken, German bleichen, Anglo-Saxon blāc pale. See Bleak, a.]

To make white, or whiter; to remove the color, or stains, from; to blanch; to whiten.
The destruction of the coloring matters attached to the bodies to be bleached is effected either by the action of the air and light, of chlorine, or of sulphurous acid. — Ure
Immortal liberty, whose look sublime Hath bleached the tyrant's cheek in every varying clime. — Smollett

Bleach , intransitive verb

To grow white or lose color; to whiten.